Saturday, December 30, 2017

In the little world of avant/chamber bands, one must definitely not forget Lacrymosa from Japan. Lacrymosa started out as a project formed by bassist/violinist Chihiro Saito in Tokyo during the early 80's with several different musicians in the band before forming a solid line-up of 13 musicians, including himself, in 1983. With such a lineup, the use of instruments is of course quite varied, including sax, violin, clarinet, guitar, crumhorn, etc. Shorly after their formation, the band started working on their debut album, simply entitled "Lacrymosa" (later known as "Bugbear" on the CD re-issue in 1993) and got released in 1984. On this album, they provided a challenging and dynamic fusion of contemporary classical music and avant progressive rock, not unlike Univers Zero from Belguim or Art Zoyd from France, with strong elements of both beauty and terror. Their second album, "Joy of a Wrecked Ship" from 1994, was similar, but with even more dynamic and powerful compositions and a slightly altered line-up. Overall, a very exciting and interesting band, definitely worth checking out if you like Art Zoyd, Univers Zero, Zypressen or avantgarde classical music in general. Both of their releases are strongly recommended!

BUGBEAR (1994)

Lacrymosa is a collective of musicians loosely organized around bassist Chihiro S. (see also Golden Avant-Garde). Their sound could be described as chamber rock, yet not in the traditional European sense; while the influences of bands like Art Zoyd and Univers Zero are evident, an equal influence is brought in from Japanese / eastern folk themes, giving the band a very unique character. Instruments used include synths, piano, violins, oboes, flute, clarinet, cello, percussion, and so on, and of course, bass. There are some occasional vocals, mostly by Chihiro himself, but primarily this is an instrumental band. The CD Bugbear contains all of the band's first self-titled album from 1984, the Gishin-Anki EP from a year later, and five bonus tracks from the earliest recordings, circa 1983. This is more acoustic than the following release (Joy of the Wrecked Ship), and may prove to be the easiest first step for those not familiar with the band. exposé

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Opus 2 (7:53)

2. Le Chant Par Blace Cendrars (4:15)

3. Junkie's Lament (5:47)

4. Suspicion & Bugbear (5:23)

5. Vision I - The Death OF The Bird OF Paradise (2:09)

6. Gonfined in The time Prison (3:47)

7. Vision II - The Chukle Laughrer in The Question (3:12)

8. The Resurrection (7:40)

9. Vision III - The Secret Treaty OF The Age OF Mairreya (5:58)

Bonus tracks:

10. Flash back (0:56)

11. Metamorphosis (3:34)

12. Lacrymosa (4:20)

13. In A Grass House - The Reefer Effect (Live) (2:01)

14. Junkie's Lament (Live) (5:20)

15. The embankment on Sundown (Live) (1:04)

16. Vision I - The Death OF The Bird OF Paradise (Live) (2:06)

17. Opus 1 (Live) (4:15)

Total time: 69:40

Line-up / Musicians

Chihiro Saito / Bass, Voice, Violin

Masa Sasaki / Drums, Percussion

Naohiro Yamazaki / Piano

Ash / Violin

Tsuyoshi Nakagawa / Recorder, Crumhorn, Gemshorn

Seiichi Nakata / Clarinet

Keiko Koyama / Voice

Shinichiroh Yamazaki / Sax

Jungo Tashihara / 10 String Guitar, Viola

Sawako Fujita / Piano, Hapsichord

Masahiro Kawamura / Drums, Recorder

Satoshi Watanabe / Flute

Yoshiro Yamaguchi / Oboe

Atsushi Hiroike / Voice

Nobuyuki Tanaka / Drums

Kohta Miki / Cello

JOY OF A WRECKED SHIP (1994)

It’s been quite a long time since S. Chihiro (flip through an issue of Marquee, he's the one with the bass and the weird helmets) and company have released a full album – about ten years. Yes, there was the reissue of their "Gishin-Anki" single on the Lost Years in a Labyrinth compilation a couple years back, but Chihiro has been quiet musically for the last few years, occasionally writing for Marquee. So here's a new album in the 70 minute realm of rather short compositions made to flow as a whole and in the familiar Lacrymosa style. Lacrymosa, like the Japanese group Katra Turana, were very much influenced by Atem stable – you know groups like Art Zoyd, Present, and Univers Zero or those related like Nazca. Easily you should be able to get an idea of whether or not you'll finish this review! While the jagged neo classical chamber rock musings are certainly here, Lacrymosa mix a good dose of Eastern influence into the music similar in many ways to the first album (aka Bugbear). The difference here is maturity. The instrumentation is very diverse, rarely does one track sound like another. The chromatic stylings typical to the bands related above isn't everywhere - sometimes there are much more melodic tracks with female vocals and traditional instrumentation. Obviously there is a lot of classical music in here like Bartók, Stravinsky, Dvořák, or even Satie at its most whimsical moments. For seventy minutes there's an awful lot going on to be able to absorb it all in a few listens, but the more I listen to it the more I like it. It is obviously all well thought out and professionally executed and overall rather original. Well done. exposé

Sunday, December 24, 2017

In 1971, in Toulouse, South-West France, Charles and Gilles Goubin, two brothers and music fans, decided to form a band. They started out playing covers of rock standards of the time, numbers from the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, etc.

In 1973, they discovered jazz rock, particularly the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, WEATHER REPORT and Miles DAVIS. This discovery laid the ground for their future compositions. They chose the name POTEMKINE for the strength and power it evokes, as well as for its phonetic qualities and Kobaian overtones (at the time, the band attended many Magma concerts). As early as 1974, they recorded a self-produced single: "MYSTÈRE / RICTUS". Charles and Gilles had then been joined by a third brother, Michel, along with Maurice Bataille and Xavier Vidal. In October 1975, the fourth brother, Philippe, joined on drums and Dominique Dubuisson on bass.

POTEMKINE released "FOETUS", its first LP, another self-production distributed on the Pole label. Touring began in the wake of the LP, first in small suburban venues, but they soon found themselves playing bigger audiences thanks to their growing success and to Tartempion, a non-profit organization putting up concerts.

For the second Lp, POTEMKINE, now turned into a trio, decided to push their musical quest further and to fuse jazz rock with early 20th century contemporary music which had by then become one of their major influences (VARESE, SATIE, DEBUSSY). The result of those sonic experiments, the LP "TRITON", was released in 1977. The title of the LP comes from the musical chord of the same name which in the Middle Ages was considered as the musical work of the devil (during the Spanish Inquisition, musicians were even burned at the stake for having played that particular chordé). The chord was only reintroduced in Western music at the beginning of the 20th century, in particular by STRAVINSKY and BARTOK.

After the recording of "TRITON", a network of bands started to form, with ART ZOYD and MOSAIK in Northern France and ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN in the South, each band organizing concerts for the others. Touring increased, with POTEMKINE playing as many as 100 gigs in one year and opening for MAGMA on several occasions. On stage, the band would fuse the music from "TRITON" with high-energy improvised passages set in a more rock-oriented structure. As this was going down very well with audiences, POTEMKINE decided to explore that direction further. In January 1978, this new orientation was confirmed by the recording of the LP "NICOLAS II", where POTEMKINE developed a high-class, energy-driven European jazz rock recorded in the spirit of a live act. The band was then composed of the three brothers, Charles, Michel and Philippe, and Doudou DUBUISSON. August of the same year saw them opening for SHAKTI, an evening culminating with John Mc LAUGHLIN's warm congratulations at the end of their set. Touring continued with ever-growing success until 1979, the year when Charles Goubin died in a road accident on June 11th.

POTEMKINE resumed touring though, and in August played a memorable concert in front of a crowd of 8000 in Bilbao, Spain, with Pierre Benichou on guitar and Gilles Goubin on cello. The band then had a break, touring having become more difficult with the times. In 1980, Gilles and Michel Goubin decided to turn professional and constitute the central unit of POTEMKINE as a quartet with Rzmy Sarrazin on bass and Jean-Marc Belkadi on guitar. That line-up went on for a little over a year and disappeared in 1982 without having ever recorded. Apart from the original recordings, the two CDs "TRITON" and "NICOLAS II" contain the numbers from the "FOETUS" LP as well as those from the single "MYSTÈRE / RICTUS", thus offering POTEMKINE's complete recorded legacy. (Soleil Zeuhl)

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Here's another gem that slips under the
radar all too often. Although they changed the band name for this one
LP to Kornelyans to benefit the English-speaking world, this is actually
Korni Grupa, the same band who gave the world one of the true
masterpieces of experimental/progressive rock music from the former
Yugoslavia in 1972 with their eponymous LP. This was their follow-up
aimed at a wider audience, and it should have done way better than
history tells.
Recorded in Italy and marketed for English language audiences, the
album was poorly promoted and suffered disappointing sales. But there's
some incredible music here... kinda like a mix of Banco and/or PFM with
Korni's unique Yugoslavian style. Some of the vocals remind me of
another great Italian band, Acqua Fragile. But this album stands on its
own rather well, with great variety in the track selections and a full,
powerful symphonic rock sound with a tight rhythm section that stops
and starts and changes faster than a hummingbird flits from flower to
flower. On "Not an Ordinary Life, Korni and Co. really push the
envelope (for the time), and left us this one yet stunning document for
us to enjoy. And I enjoy it immensely!
This was reissued in 1989 by Italy's then-fledgling CD reissue
label, Vinyl Magic, who I'm happy to report is still going strong after
almost 2 decades. But this CD (Vinyl Magic VM 030) went out of print
almost immediately and has become one of the hardest CDs to locate. Why
this album hasn't been reissued after 18 years is a complete mystery to
me. I'm grateful to at least have a copy to listen to, but I'd love to
have an official copy someday. Who knows... maybe with the increase in
classic former-Yugoslavian progressive rock reissues, this one will
finally make it back into circulation again. C'mon Serbia, you've got
the technology! Highly recommended. RYM

Tracklist:1. Rising (2:16)2. Not An Ordinary Life (10:19)3. Generation 1942 (6:43)4. Fall Off The Land Of Woman (5:31)5. Temporary Parting (4:00)6. Man With A White Flag (11:50)

VISITOR 2035 were a short-lived band based in the UK, with the Irishman John Mason and Craig Pruess , an American residing in UK since 1973. Mason is renowned as a member of the Irish top-notch outfit Fruup; Pruess performed with Mike Oldfield and did arrangements for music of Sarah Brightman, Def Leppard and Massive attack, among many others.
The band self-released 'Cain! A Modern Mystery Play' in 1976, and released the self-titled album in 1978 for the German label Hansa.
The music of Visitor 2035 is heavily rooted in fusion, on the Weather Report/ Return to Forever side, with omnipresent symphonic elements and eerie spacey keyboard textures in Skywhale/ Flight vein. It's recommended to fans of music which is stepping out of the fusion realm, as well as to all fans of good music.

Obscure US prog fusion outfit led by keyboard player John Rogers. Their
style was akin to Canterbury bands like Isotope and National Health,
with the added guest brass section taking the sound towards big band era
Zappa/ Mothers.
The band existed for only a short time, was signed to Inner
City Records, and released Elsewhere in 1981 before blinking out of
existence. The jazz in this album may be stronger than most Canterbury
albums, but connections to Caravan and other early Canterbury acts can
be seen.

Anamorphose started in 1982 when François Dumont d'Ayot met Olivier Lamorthe after a standard jazz concert on which he played on. They decided to try and play something more creative with an emphasis on unconventional time signatures. Their first incarnation was Olivier Lamorthe on keys, François Dumont d'Ayot on saxophone and flute, Philippe Villiot on violin (coming from irish and greek folk music), a self made drummer they called "Sherpa" who disappeared from the music scene very early and a female bass player called Odile Eschenbrenner who also left pretty early on. The second incarnation was Eric Bailles on bass, who played with the band alternately along with Nathanael Veryat (who appeared on their only album) and finally Christophe Torion on drums. In 30/10/1986 they have recorded their only album live, it was mixed at Studio Dagobert on the 14th and 15th November and issued in December that year. In 1988 Philippe Villiot left, and the band continued as a quartet for a few years before teaming up with guitar player Eric Minen. Anamorphose made some other recordings in a more professional way but those were never released. In 1997 the band came to full stop.

Zeptelar's music is composed mostly of guitarist and composer Camilo Acevedo Saiz, who has participated in different guitar contests and composition, obtaining the first place in "Best musical proposal" in the years 2004 and 2005 in the contest "Sólo para bravos" organized by the Escuela de Moderna de Música of Santiago, in addition to two albums with the band Flotante.

Zeptelar has a repertoire of original instrumental music, which fuses Jazz, with elements of Rock, Contemporary Music and roots. Following the path of the national bands Fulano and Congreso, Zeptelar's compositions aim to re-emphasize the real Chilean instrumental music, from the look of new generations of professional musicians. These compositions are highly creative and require a high level of interpretation for their execution, which ensures an artistic product of high quality.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Influenced by the likes of Tim Berne, Frank Zappa, and contemporary classical composer Charles Wuorinen, Brooklyn-based guitarist Rich Woodson traded his interest in hard rock and speed metal for a blend of creative jazz, avant metal, and contemporary chamber music textures in his Ellipsis quintet. Featuring Woodson along with drummer John Hollenbeck (Claudia Quintet), soprano saxophonist Peter Epstein, tenor saxophonist Aaron Stewart, and acoustic bassist Mat Fieldes, the group's recorded debut, Control and Resistance, arrived on the Cuneiform label in 2000. Across nine tracks and a total of 43 minutes, the ensemble maintained a herky-jerky momentum performing composer Woodson's head-spinningly brief and knotty multi-layered motifs in constantly permuting convolutions. The group's sophomore album, 2005's independently released The Nail That Stands Up Gets Pounded Down, featured Woodson again joined by Hollenbeck, Stewart, and Fieldes, but with clarinetist Anthony Burr replacing saxophonist Epstein. The Nail That Stands Up continued the conceptual thread of Control and Resistance, packing more of Woodson's ever-changing dense compositional textures into the album's 40-minute length. Although no further Ellipsis albums would be released, Woodson and company left fans of complex avant and experimental music with enough sonic material to warrant repeated listens for years to come.

From San Jose, California, Industrial Soup is a trio of keys+bass, drums, and vocals+sax, sporting a hard driving and quirky keyboard dominated sound that, together with the humorous lyrics (well... they made me laugh a lot!) and manic spoken / shouted vocals makes for a pretty unique musical journey. The music moves along in a herky-jerky rhythmic way with flashes of melody popping out during breaks in the lyrics, or competing with them for center stage; this release would fit in nicely with others on the FOT / Ponk label, totally over the top. Lyrically, I am sometimes reminded of that early 80s EP by Bedful of Metaphysicians, but I suspect that with songtitles like "Tiny Bladder" (its lyrics describe standing in the bathroom line at a football game) or a song about a bureaucratic encounter at the DMV, that there is at least a little Zappa / Beefheart influence hiding somewhere in the shadows. The music is urgent, aggressive and restless, and a good support vehicle for the lyrics on tracks like "Evolve or Die" or "Burrito of Love." In summary, Industrial Soup's opening shot is a lot of fun on a lot of different levels, and one that most should enjoy. exposé

One of the darkest and on high-demand Italian Library records. From the infamous Fonit 7000 series here's the most obscure and deepest Rino de Filippi's production composed along with maestro Giancarlo Chiaramello. Very elusive LP featuring some of the darkest Italian Library sounds with obsessed Breakbeats like in the killer "OSTINAZIONE" with Fuzz Psychedelic guitar and amazing drumming tempo. More obscure samples on "PULSAZIONI". Spookiest guitar and basslines ever and scary atmospherics with screaming vocals too. Insane trippy LP!

Appeared in 1975 on the legendary Ultima Spiaggia label during the mature stage of the Italian underground scene, the only album of the milanese band led by guitarist Marco Rossi looks like a experiment rather atypical of that period. The typical jazz sound of formations such Perigeo or Napoli Centrale, leave here considerable field for improvisation on suggestions of extra-eurepean ethnic flavor, enhanced by the masterful rhythmic section (without drums) curated by the African percussionists Nick Eyok and Mohammed El Targhi. The result was a complex work and full of nuances, in which the spirit of the free-jam is excellent for synthesis of influences and visions. Refined guitar riffs reveals strong blues roots that can blend with the elements and moods of the most markedly spiritual and exotic free-jazz (Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane or Shepp), while when the winds are perfumed of the Middle East flow as distant echoes with ideas of tribal rhythmic that seems to draw both from the rhythms of the northern Sahara as from more Afro-beat rituals of Yoruba ancestry. In the background so persist a poetic of intercultural exchange that approaches the I.P. Son Group to parallels projects such as those made by Aktuala, Arica or John Berberian.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

SOTOS was one of those under-the-radar avant-prog bands that
followed in the footsteps of Univers Zero and Art Zoyd, released a
couple albums and then disappeared from the scene. This all instrumental
ensemble emerged from Bordeaux, France in 1996 and was composed of five
musicians. Nicolas Cazaux on violin, flute & tambourine; Yan Hazera
on guitar and djembe; Bruno Camiade on bass and djembe; Nadia Leclerc
on violin and cello; Michael Hazera on drums and flute. Both Hazera
brothers would later play together in their next band Zaar a decade
later. All members attended the French National School of Music and
required little time in finding a common thread to create their first
eponymous album released on the French Gazul label.

Just like
many in the more obscure corners of the avant-prog world, SOTOS marries
myriad musical disciplines and drives them together with angular rock
riffs, chamber rock atmospheres, post-rock compositional styles along
with classical sensibilities in this case from the likes of Bela Bartok
and Igor Stravinsky. While avant-garde is the first thing that comes to
mind when a Univers Zero or Art Zoyd connection is made, SOTOS were
disciplined enough, despite creating only four monster tracks all
clocking in over 13 minutes, to encapsulate a roller coaster ride of
interesting hooks that are allowed to play out and add the proper amount
of tension before climaxing and shifting to another complex
instrumental arrangement.

While the near 22 minute opener “Tango”
may have elements of Argentina’s favorite dance music, it’s only a
small part of the overall sound and fairly obscured with a healthy dose
of violin and cello sounding more like a classical folk composition
taken from the Hungarian countryside of the 19th century but also offers
the angular rhythmic rock approach of the avant-prog tradition with a
healthy dose of twists and turns that allow more energetic percussive
segments than usually heard in this subgenre of prog. The second track
“Gilgamesh” sounds as epic as the Akkadian poem from which the name
derives. It begins with a rather Steve Hillage “Fish Rising” type of
guitar riff accompanied by folky violin but turns into a more energetic
rocker and also displays a fair amount of energetic tribal drumming
along the way.

“XXVIIIeme Parallele” exudes a jazz guitar intro
but is also quite classically inspired and then drowned out by a
lamenting violin before spiraling off into a more upbeat parade of folk
led flute and drums. As it ventures forward it sounds more like an early
King Crimson type of eclectic jazz rock that becomes more progressive
as time goes on with the angular rhythms becoming even more so and
avant-guitar solos joining in with burst of bubbly zeuhl bass lines that
climaxes with one of the most energetic outbursts on the entire album.
“L’espoir Du Clan Des Huitres” at almost 17 minutes is the most frenetic
track with insane echoey guitars, chugging zeuhl bass rhythms with less
of the angular avant-rhythms but they do occur as it all slowly
ratchets up into furious guitar frenzies. Like all the other tracks,
there is plenty of time for it to breathe and take the time to build up
the momentum.

SOTOS is fairly unique sounding. Not as scary as
Univers Zero or Art Zoyd. Not as heavy as Thinking Plague. More varied
than bands like Nebelnest but not as ambitious as 5uu’s. SOTOS utilizes
just enough of several different elements to make it feel balanced with a
lot of time paid to repetitive patterns that linger with subtleties
joining in. Just a tad of rhythmic zeuhl alongside avant-garde
angularities as well as the King Crimson proggy rock mixed with the
Bartok classical folk elements. The music is definitely dense and
complex but it is fairly easy to follow if the listener is actively
engaged. Segments proceed in a logical manner and nothing really jumps
out of the blue. Excellent music for those who love a more focused form
of avant-prog that also offers a few twists and turns along the way. Review by siLLy_puPPy
Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Tango (21:56)2. Gilgamesh (16:07)3. XXVIIIeme Parallele (13:27)4. L'Espoir Du Clan Des Huntres (17:05) Total Time: 68:35

It's well known one of the most renowned symphonic progressive rock opera "Tubular Bells" produced by Mike Oldfield should exert incredible influence upon plenty of young artists, one of whom was Hartmut ZINN, a promising German guitarist. In the early 1980s Hartmut stumbled upon a copy of "Tubular Bells"' and got deeply impressed at Mike's magnificent musical view. Hartmut impulsively got to create / produce such a symphonic monster, and finally his creativity with multiple instruments around him saw the light in 1982, as the debut opus "Heiles Land", distributed via Talent / Deutche Grammophon. progarchive

Michele Fedrigotti and Danilo Lorenzini’s long overlooked LP -‎ I Fiori Del Sole, is among of the great works of to emerge from Italy’s incredible movement of musical Minimalism. Both Fedrigotti and Lorenzini are renowned classical pianists, with the bulk of their respective careers dedicated to realizing the works of others. During the 1970’s and 80’s, they worked extensively with Franco Battiato - notably playing most of the instrumentation on Giusto Pio’s legendary Motore Immobile, which he produced. In 1979, the trio - Battiato, Fedrigotti, and Lorenzini, entered the studio to record I Fiori Del Sole, the duo’s only realization of their own compositions. The outcome was a gesture in sublime simplicity - a series of works for organ and piano, with each side dedicated solely to a single instrument. Charting an alternate path - one looking forward through the lens of the earliest days of the avant-garde - the piano works of Erik Satie and Debussy, I Fiori Del Sole feels like nothing of its era. Embracing simple melodies and progressions which are at once radical and steeped in romanticism, works appear as breaths of sound - constrained and flourishing beyond their boundaries. An essential piece in the puzzle of the remarkable body of Italian Minimalist sound, by two of its most important and under-recognized contributors, the reemergence of in the hands of Song Cycle is nothing short of a remarkable event.